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Muhammad Ali Jinnah

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A Nation can never progress unless it marches in one formation.
We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Urdu, Sindhi: محمد على جناح) (December 25, 1876 – September 11, 1948) was a Muslim politician in the Indian subcontinent and leader of the All-India Muslim League who founded Pakistan and served as its first Governor-General. He is officially known in Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam (Urdu: قائد اعظم — "Great Leader") and Baba-e-Qaum ("Father of the Nation"). His birth and death anniversaries are Holidays in Pakistan.

Quotes

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  • "We are starting the state with no discrimination ... we should keep that in front of us as our ideal, and you will find that in course of time Hindus will cease to be Hindus and Muslims will cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as the citizens of the nation.
    • Muhammad Ali Jinnah, on the day he was elected president of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly, Jinnah in a moving speech, quoted in M. J. Akbar, India: The Siege Within (Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 1985) p 34. As quoted from Ibn, W. (2004). Leaving Islam: Apostates speak out. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.

1935

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  • I part company with the Congress and Mohandas K. Gandhi. I do not believe in working up mob hysteria. Politics is a gentleman's game.
    • Speaking to journalist Durga Das in London (December 1920) as quoted in Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity : The Search for Saladin (1997) by Akbar S. Ahmed, p. 67
  • Religion should not be allowed to come into Politics….Religion is merely a matter between man and God.
    • Address to the Central Legislative Assembly, 7 February 1935, also quoted in The Search for Saladin, p. 67

1941

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  • Today, unfurling the Muslim League flag, I want to reaffirm with all the emphasis at my command that we stand for Pakistan and for faith, unity and discipline. I am confident that we will acquire a place in this land where we may live honourably according to Islamic tradition and culture and it is in your hands...!
    • Public address, Urdu Park in New Delhi, 23 October 1941
  • Islam stands for justice, equality, fair play, toleration and even generosity to non-Muslims who may be under our protection. They are like brothers to us and would be the citizens of the State.
    • Address at The Muslim University Union in Aligarh, 2 November, 1941

1943

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  • There are millions and millions of our people who hardly get one meal a day. Is this civilization? Is this the aim of Pakistan? Do you visualize that millions have been exploited and cannot get one meal a day! If that is the idea of Pakistan. I would not have it.
    • Presidential Address Delivered at the Thirtieth Session of All-India Muslim League, 24 April 1943

1944

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  • The Press is great power and it can do good as well as harm. If rightly conducted, it can guide and instruct public opinion.
    • Talk with Journalists of Kashmir, 23 May 1944

1945

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  • Islam came in the world to establish democracy, peace and justice; to safeguard the rights of the oppressed. It brought to humanity the message of equality of the rich and the poor, of the high and the low. The Holy Prophet fought for these ideals for the major part of his life. Is it not, therefore, the duty of every Muslim, wherever he may be, to do his level best to preserve the great ideals and the glorious tradition of Islam, to fight for the equality of mankind, the achievement of man’s legitimate rights and the establishment of democracy? We in India believe that Pakistan is our legitimate demand, our birthright. We believe that it is in consonance with democratic principles and justice. We are, therefore, determined to fight for it and Inshaallah we shall win.
    • Message to editor Muslim Views, Colombo (Ceylon) on Holy Prophet’s birthday, Bombay, 5 February 1945

1946

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  • Democracy is in the blood of Musalmans who look upon complete equality of manhood, Musalmans (Muslims) believe in fraternity, equality and liberty.
    • Speech at Kingsway Hall, London, 13 December 1946

1947

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  • Pakistan is going to be a state in which all people will get their due share in all the amenities of life.
    • Address, Memon Chamber of Commerce, Bombay, 27 March 1947
  • Sooner you come down to reality the sooner you will solve the problem.
    • Address, Memon Chamber of Commerce, Bombay, 27 March 1947
  • We meet here today under the shadow of great events···. We are passing from crisis to crisis···. We have got to organize our own nation. Other communities may take offence. They may say it is communalism. The communities in India have existed for centuries, and they will live also for centuries. Pakistan is going to be a state in which all people will get their due share in all the amenities of life. Hence solve your problems now. Pakistan is a state where there is no question of caste or creed. Why should I grudge any community working for its own social, educational and economic uplift? There is no use saying that it is communalism. Sooner you come down to reality the sooner you will solve the problem.
    • Address, Memon Chamber of Commerce, Bombay, 27 March 1947
  • I am proud that I am not the Governor-General who was an agent of another power but a Governor-General who is chosen by the people…. It is our sacred duty to look after the poor and to help them.
    • Public address, Karachi Club, 9 August 1947
  • With determination, courage, solidarity and with the help of every citizen we shall make this state a real power.
    • Public address, Karachi Club, 9 August 1947

Presidential Address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan

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  • If we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well being of the people and especially of the masses and the poor.
    • Presidential Address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, 11 August 1947
  • You are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed, that has nothing to do with the business of State.
    • Presidential Address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, 11 August, 1947
  • You are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed, that has nothing to do with the business of State.
    • Presidential Address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, 11 August, 1947
  • It should be our aim not only to remove want and fear of all types, but secure liberty, fraternity and equality as enjoined upon us by Islam.
    • Address, Karachi Municipal Corporation, 25 August 1947
  • God has given us a grand opportunity to show our worth as architects of a new State; let it not be said that we did not prove equal to the task.
    • Address to Civil, Military and Air Force Officers, 11 October, 1947
  • Never forget our motto "Unity, Discipline and Faith"
    • Speech from Radio Pakistan at Lahore, 30 October 1947
  • Work, work and work and we are bound to success.
    • Speech from Radio Pakistan at Lahore, 30 October 1947

1948

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  • A nation can never progress unless it marches in one formation. We are all Pakistanis and citizens of the state and we should serve, sacrifice and die for the state so that we may make it the most glorious and sovereign state in the world.
    • Address to Bar Association of Karachi, 25 January 1948
  • We follow the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him). We are members of the brotherhood of Islam in which all are equal in right, dignity and self-respect. Consequently we have a special and very deep sense of unity.
    • Broadcast Talk to the People of Australia, 19 February, 1948
  • We are the inheritors of these glorious traditions and are fully alive to our responsibilities and obligations as framers of the future constitution of Pakistan.
    • Broadcast talk on Pakistan to the people of the United States of America, Karachi, 26 February 1948
  • In any case Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic state —to be ruled by priests with a divine mission. We have many non-Muslims —Hindus, Christian and Parsis—but they are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizens and will play their rightful part in the affairs of Pakistan
    • Broadcast talk on Pakistan to the people of the United States of America, Karachi, 26 February 1948
  • If you build up yourself into a nation···. Give up this provincialism. Provincialism has been one of the curses; and so is sectionalism— Shia, Sunni, etc.
    • Public Address at Dacca, 21 March 1948
  • Brotherhood, equality and fraternity of man—these are all the basic points of our religion, culture and civilization. And we fought for Pakistan because there was a danger of denial of these human rights in this sub-continent.
    • Address to Public Reception in Chittagong, 26 March, 1948
  • If we begin to think of ourselves as Punjabis, Sindhis, etc. first and Muslims and Pakistanis incidentally, then Pakistan is bound to disintegrate. Do not think that this is some abstruse proposition: our enemies are fully alive to its possibilities which I must warn you that they are already busy exploiting.
    • Radio Broadcast from Dacca, 28 March 1948
  • Our duty to the State comes first; our duty to our province to your district, to our town and to our village and ourselves comes next. **Speech at Islamia College in Peshawar, 12 April 1948
  • Develop a sound sense of discipline, character, initiative and a solid academic background. You must devote yourself wholeheartedly to your studies, for that is your first obligation to yourselves, your parents and to the State. You must learn to obey, for only then you can learn to command.
    • Reply to the Address Presented by Islamia College Students, Peshawar, 12 April 1948
  • This is your government. It is quite different from its predecessors. Therefore, appreciate when a good thing is done. Certainly criticize fearlessly, when a wrong thing is done. I welcome criticism, but it must be honest and constructive.
    • Address at Edwards College in Peshawar, 18 April 1948
  • We are now all Pakistanis, not Balochis, Pathans, Sindhis, Bengalis, Punjabis and so on and as Pakistanis we must feel, behave and act, and we should be proud to be known as Pakistanis and nothing else.
    • Reply to the Civil Address Presented by the Quetta Municipality,15 June, 1948
Our object should be peace within, and peace without.
I do not know what the ultimate shape of this constitution is going to be, but I am sure that it will be of a democratic type, embodying the essential principle of Islam.
We want to live peacefully and maintain cordial friendly relations with our immediate neighbours and with the world at large.
There is no power on earth that can undo Pakistan.
The Story of Pakistan, its struggle and its achievement, is the very story of great human ideals, struggling to survive in the face of great odds and difficulties.


  • Think a hundred times before you take any decision, but once a decision is taken, stand by it as one man.
  • When we say 'This flag (Muslim League's flag) is the flag of Islam' they think we are introducing religion into politics - a fact of which we are proud. Islam gives us a complete code. It is not only religion but it contains laws, philosophy and politics. In fact, it contains everything that matters to a man from morning to night. When we talk of Islam we take it as all embracing word. We do not mean any ill. The foundation of our Islamic code is that we stand for liberty, equality and fraternity.
  • It is extremely difficult to appreciate why our Hindu friends fail to understand the real nature of Islam and Hinduism. They are not religions in the strict sense of the word, but are, in fact, different and distinct social orders, and it is a dream that the Hindus and Muslims can ever evolve a common nationality, and this misconception of one Indian nation has troubles and will lead India to destruction if we fail to revise our notions in time. The Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, litterateurs. They neither intermarry nor interdine together and, indeed, they belong to two different civilizations which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions. Their aspect on life and of life are different. It is quite clear that Hindus and Mussalmans (Muslims) derive their inspiration from different sources of history. They have different epics, different heroes, and different episodes. Very often the hero of one is a foe of the other and, likewise, their victories and defeats overlap. To yoke together two such nations under a single state, one as a numerical minority and the other as a majority, must lead to growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be so built for the government of such a state.
    • Presidential Address to All India Muslim League.
  • I have always maintained that no nation can ever be worthy of its existence that cannot take its women along with the men. No struggle can ever succeed without women participating side by side with men. There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a great competition and rivalry between the two. There is a third power stronger than both, that of the women.
  • The prosperity and advancement of a nation depend upon its intelligentsia, and Muslim India is looking forward to her young generation and education classes to give a bold lead for our guidance and a brilliant record of historical achievements and traditions.
    • Speech (24 December 1940), published in Some Recent Speeches and Writings of Mr. Jinnah (1947), Vol. 1
  • Islam lays great emphasis on the social side of things. Every day, the rich and the poor, the great and the small living in a locality are brought five times in a day in the mosque in the terms of perfect equality of mankind and thereby the foundation of a healthy social relationship is laid and established through prayer. At the end of Ramazan comes the new moon, the crescent as a signal for a mass gathering on the ‘Id day again in perfect equality of mankind which effects the entire Muslim world.
  • [Soon after the Muslim League had passed its resolution demanding Pakistan in 1940, the Dravidian ideologue E.V. Ramasamy Nayakar (popularly known as EVR) passed a similar resolution demanding a sovereign state, to be called Dravidistan. In 1941, at the twenty-eight Annual session of the Muslim League, Jinnah and EVR shared the dais and Jinnah extended full support to splitting off something called Dravidistan:]
    I have every sympathy and shall do all to help, and you establish Dravidistan, where the seven percent Muslim population will stretch its hand of friendship and live with you on lines of security, justice and fair play.
    • Jinnah, in Johari, J.C. Voices of Indian Freedom Movement. New Delhi: AnmolPublications, 1993 quoted from Malhotra, R., Nīlakantan, A. (2011). Breaking India: Western interventions in Dravidian and Dalit faultlines
  • You have performed wonders in the past. You are still capable of repeating the history. You are not lacking in the great qualities and virtues in comparison with the other nations. Only you have to be fully conscious of that fact and to act with courage, faith and unity.

The Message on independence day of Pakistan, issued from Delhi (23 March 1943) [specific citation needed]

  • No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you. We are victims of evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our women are shut up within the four walls of the houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere for the deplorable condition in which our women have to live.
    • Speech at a meeting of the Muslim University Union, Aligarhn10 March 1944
  • Pakistan not only means freedom and independence but Muslims ideology which has to be preserved which has come to us a precious gift and treasure and which we hope, others will share with us.
    • Address to Frontier Muslim Students Federation 18 June 1945.
  • The Quran is the greatest honor and respect for the Muslims Muslims can also sacrifice their life for their religion a religious, social, civil, commercial, military, judicial, criminal, and penal code. It regulates every thing, from the ceremonies of religion to those of daily life, from the salvation of the soul to the health of the body, from the rights of all to those of each individual from morality to crime; from punishment here to that in the life to come, and our Holy Prophet Mohammad (Peace by upon Him) has enjoined on us that every Musalman should possess a copy of the Quran and be his own priest. Therefore, Islam is not merely confined to the spiritual tenets and doctrines or ritual and ceremonies. It is a complete code regulating the whole Muslim society, every department of life, collective and individual.
  • You are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your masjids or any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed. That has nothing to do with the business of the State.
    • Presidential address to the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, Karachi (11 August 1947)
  • Our object should be peace within, and peace without. We want to live peacefully and maintain cordial friendly relations with our immediate neighbours and with the world at large.
  • We should have a State in which we could live and breathe as free men and which we could develop according to our own lights and culture and where principles of Islamic social justice could find free play.
    • Address to Civil, Naval, Military, and Air Force Officers of Pakistan Government, Karachi 11 October 1947.
  • My message to you all is of hope, courage and confidence. Let us mobilize all our resources in a systematic and organized way and tackle the grave issues that confront us with grim determination and discipline worthy of a great nation.
    • Eid-ul-Azha Message to the Nation 24 October 1947.
  • That freedom can never be attained by a nation without suffering and sacrifice has been amply borne out by the recent tragic happenings in this subcontinent. We are in the midst of unparalleled difficulties and untold sufferings; we have been through dark days of apprehension and anguish; but I can say with confidence that with courage and self-reliance and by the Grace of God we shall emerge triumphant.
    • Speech at a rally at the University Stadium, Lahore 30 October 1.
  • There is no power on earth that can undo Pakistan.
    • Speech at a rally at the University Stadium, Lahore 30 October 1947.
  • The weak and the defenceless, in this imperfect world, invite aggression from others. The best way in which we can serve the cause of peace is by removing the temptation from the path of those who think that we are weak and, therefore, they can bully or attack us. That temptation can only be removed if we make ourselves so strong that nobody dares entertain any aggressive designs against us.
    • Address at the time of launching ceremony of PNS 'Dilawar' on (23 January 1948)
  • I cannot understand the logic of those who have been deliberately and mischievously propagating that the Constitution of Pakistan will not be based on Islamic Sharia. Islamic principles today are as much applicable to life as they were 1300 years ago.
    • Address to Karachi Bar Association 25 January 1948.
  • As you may be aware, the Government has been making genuine efforts to allay the fears and the suspicions of the minorities and if their (Hindu minority's) exodus from Sindh still continues, it is Not because they are not wanted here, but because they are more prone to listen to people across the border who are interested in pulling them out. I am sorry for those misguided people for nothing but disillusionment awaits them in their 'PROMISED LAND'.
    • Reply to an address of the Welcome Note presented by the Parsi Community of Sindh, Karachi (3 February 1948) [specific citation needed]
  • Let me make it very clear to you, it is no doubt that the state language of Pakistan is going to be Urdu and no other language. Anyone who tries to mislead you is really the enemy of Pakistan. Without state language, no nation can remain tied up solidly together and function. Look at the history of every government judgement substitute language. Therefore, so far as the State language is concerned, Pakistan's state language shall be Urdu.
  • The constitution of Pakistan has yet to be framed by the Pakistan Constituent Assembly. I do not know what the ultimate shape of this constitution is going to be, but I am sure that it will be of a democratic type, embodying the essential principle of Islam. Today, they are as applicable in actual life as they were 1,300 years ago. Islam and its idealism have taught us democracy. It has taught equality of man, justice and fairplay to everybody. We are the inheritors of these glorious traditions and are fully alive to our responsibilities and obligations as framers of the future constitution of Pakistan. In any case Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic State to be ruled by priests with a divine mission. We have many non-Muslims — Hindus, Christians, and Parsis — but they are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizens and will play their rightful part in the affairs of Pakistan.
  • The great majority of us are Muslims. We follow the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed (may peace be upon him). We are members of the brotherhood of Islam in which all are equal in rights, dignity and self-respect. Consequently, we have a special and a very deep sense of unity. But make no mistake: Pakistan is not a theocracy or anything like it.
  • You have to stand guard over the development and maintenance of democracy, social justice and the equality of manhood in your own native soil. With faith, discipline and selfless devotion to duty, there is nothing worthwhile that you cannot achieve.
    • Address to the officers and men of the 5th Heavy Ack Ack and 6th Light Ack Ack Regiments in Malir, Karachi (21 February 1948)[specific citation needed]
  • Today we have forged a pistol, and are ready to use it.
  • in Road to Pakistan: The Life and Times of Mohammad Ali Jinnah , B. R. Nanda · 2013 also in quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 11
  • We shall have India divided, or we shall have India destroyed.
    • in Birth of Modern India - John M. Dunn · 2014, also quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp.11
  • The exploits of your leaders in many a historic field of battle; the progress of your Revolution; the rise and career of the great Atatürk, his revitalization of your nation by his great statesmanship, courage and foresight all these stirring events are well-known to the people of Pakistan.
    • Reply to the speech made by the first Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan at the time of presenting Credentials to the Quaid-i-Azam (4 March 1948)[specific citation needed]
  • The Story of Pakistan, its struggle and its achievement, is the very story of great human ideals, struggling to survive in the face of great odds and difficulties.
  • Yet this is a truth people so easily seem to forget and begin to prize local, sectional or provincial interests above and regardless of the national interests. It naturally pains me to find the curse of provincialism holding sway over any section of Pakistan. Pakistan must be rid of this evil.
  • We are now all Pakistanis — not Baluchis, Pathans, Sindhis, Bengalis, Punjabis and so on — and as Pakistanis we must feet behave and act, and we should be proud to be known as Pakistanis and nothing else.
  • I shall watch with keenness the work of your Research Organization in evolving banking practices compatible with Islamic ideas of social and economic life. The economic system of the West has created almost insoluble problems for humanity and to many of us it appears that only a miracle can save it from disaster that is not facing the world. It has failed to do justice between man and man and to eradicate friction from the international field. On the contrary, it was largely responsible for the two world wars in the last half century. The Western world, in spite of its advantages, of mechanization and industrial efficiency is today in a worse mess than ever before in history. The adoption of Western economic theory and practice will not help us in achieving our goal of creating a happy and contended people. We must work our destiny in our own way and present to the world an economic system based on true Islamic concept of equality of manhood and social justice. We will thereby be fulfilling our mission as Muslims and giving to humanity the message of peace which alone can save it and secure the welfare, happiness and prosperity of mankind.
  • I have full faith in my people that they will rise to every occasion worthy of our past Islamic history, glory and traditions.
  • Character, courage, industry and perseverance are the four pillars on which the whole edifice of human life can be built and failure is a word unknown to me.
    • As quoted in Mohammad Ali Jinnah : A Political Study (1962) by M. H. Saiyid, p. 9
  • I have lived as plain Mr. Jinnah and I hope to die as plain Mr. Jinnah. I am very much averse to any title or honours and I will be more than happy if there was no prefix to my name.
    • As quoted in Plain Mr. Jinnah : Selections from Quaid-e-Azam's Correspondence (1976)
  • [Any one could have thought that the limit of Muslim demands was reached and that the 1932 settlement was a final settlement. But it appears that even with this the Musalmans are not satisfied. A further list of new demands for safeguarding the Muslim position seems to be ready. In the controversy that went on between Mr. Jinnah and the Congress in the year 1938, Mr. Jinnah was asked to disclose his demands, which he refused to do. But these demands have come to the surface in the correspondence that passed between Pandit Nehru and Mr. Jinnah in the course of the controversy, and they have been tabulated by Pandit Nehru in one of his letters to Mr. Jinnah. His tabulation gives the following items as being matters of disputes and requiring settlement:—] [...]
    (3) The share of the Muslims in the state services should be definitely fixed in the constitution by statutory enactment.
    (4) Muslim personal law and culture should be guaranteed by statute.
    (5) The Congress should take in hand the agitation in connection with the Sahidganj Mosque [a mosque in Lahore that was part of a Sikh-Muslim dispute] and should use its moral pressure to enable the Muslims to gain possession of the Mosque.
    (7) Muslims should have freedom to perform cow-slaughter.
    (8) Muslim majorities in the Provinces, where such majorities exist at present, must not be affected by any territorial re-distribution or adjustments.
    (9) The 'Bande Mataram' song should be given up.
    (10) Muslims want Urdu to be the national language of India and they desire to have statutory guarantees that the use of Urdu shall not be curtailed or damaged.
    (11) Muslim representation in the local bodies should be governed by the principles underlying the Communal Award, that is, separate electorates and population strength.
    (12) The tricolour flag should be changed or alternately the flag of the Muslim League should be given equal importance.
    (13) Recognition of the Muslim League as the one authoritative and representative organization of Indian Muslims.
    • Quoted from B.R. Ambedkar, Pakistan or The Partition of India (1946)
  • “In the North-West and North-East zones of India which are our homeland and where we are in a majority of 70% we say we want a separate State of our own. There we can live according to our own notions of life. The differences between Hindus and Muslims are so fundamental that there is nothing that matters in life upon which we agree. “It is well known to any student of History that our heroes, our culture, our language, our music, our architecture, our jurisprudence, our social life are absolutely different and distinct. We are told that the so-called one India is British-made. It was by the sword. It can only be held as it has been held. Do not be misled by anyone saying that India is one and why, therefore, should it not continue to be one. What do we want? I tell you, Pakistan. Pakistan presupposes that Hindustan should also be a free State. “What would Hindus lose? Look at the map. They would have three-quarters of India. They would have the best parts. They have a population of nearly 200,000,000. Pakistan “is certainly not the best part of India. We should have a population of 100,000,000, all Muslims. “On July the 27th, we decided to change our policy and to resort to “Direct Action”-a big change of policy-and we decided to tell our people this on August the 16th. “Reviewing the whole position, there is no other way but to divide India. Give Muslims their homeland and give Hindus Hindustan.”
  • “What we have done to-day is the most historic act in our history. Never have we in the whole history of the League done anything except by constitutional methods. But now we are forced into this position. Today we bid good-bye to constitutional methods.”.... “To-day we have forged a pistol and are in a position to use it.”... “We mean every word of it. We do not believe in equivocation.”
  • Mr. Jinnah in a statement issued from Bombay on September 11, 1946 offered to the Hindus the choice between creating Pakistan and forcing a Civil War in the country. Replying to a question seeking suggestions for the restoration of peace in India, he said:” “In view of the horrible slaughter in various parts of India, I am of the opinion that the authorities, both Central and Provincial, should take up immediately the question of exchange of population to avoid brutal recurrence of that which had taken place where small minorities have been butchered by the overwhelming majorities.”

Address to the Constituent Assembly (1947)

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Presidential Address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan (11 August 1947)
My guiding principle will be justice and complete impartiality, and I am sure that with your support and co-operation, I can look forward to Pakistan becoming one of the greatest nations of the world.
  • The Constituent Assembly has got two main functions to perform. The first is the very onerous and responsible task of framing the future constitution of Pakistan and the second of functioning as a full and complete sovereign body as the Federal Legislature of Pakistan.
  • This mighty sub-continent with all kinds of inhabitants has been brought under a plan which is titanic, unknown, unparalleled. And what is very important with regards to it is that we have achieved it peacefully and by means of an evolution of the greatest possible character.
  • The first and the foremost thing that I would like to emphasize is this — remember that you are now a sovereign legislative body and you have got all the powers. It, therefore, places on you the gravest responsibility as to how you should take your decisions. The first observation that I would like to make is this: You will no doubt agree with me that the first duty of a government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the State.
  • A division had to take place. On both sides, in Hindustan and Pakistan, there are sections of people who may not agree with it, who may not like it, but in my judgement there was no other solution and I am sure future history will record is verdict in favour of it. And what is more, it will be proved by actual experience as we go on that was the only solution of India's constitutional problem. Any idea of a united India could never have worked and in my judgement it would have led us to terrific disaster. Maybe that view is correct; maybe it is not; that remains to be seen.
  • Now, if we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous, we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor. If you will work in co-operation, forgetting the past, burying the hatchet, you are bound to succeed. If you change your past and work together in a spirit that everyone of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this State with equal rights, privileges, and obligations, there will be no end to the progress you will make.
    I cannot emphasize it too much. We should begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all these angularities of the majority and minority communities, the Hindu community and the Muslim community, because even as regards Muslims you have Pathans, Punjabis, Shias, Sunnis and so on, and among the Hindus you have Brahmins, Vashnavas, Khatris, also Bengalis, Madrasis and so on, will vanish.
  • You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the State. As you know, history shows that in England, conditions, some time ago, were much worse than those prevailing in India today. The Roman Catholics and the Protestants persecuted each other. Even now there are some States in existence where there are discriminations made and bars imposed against a particular class. Thank God, we are not starting in those days. We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State.
  • In due course of time, Hindus will cease to be Hindus and Muslims will cease to be Muslims, not in a religious sense because that is the personal faith of an individual, but in a political sense as citizens of one state.
  • I shall always be guided by the principles of justice and fairplay without any, as is put in the political language, prejudice or ill-will, in other words, partiality or favouritism. My guiding principle will be justice and complete impartiality, and I am sure that with your support and co-operation, I can look forward to Pakistan becoming one of the greatest nations of the world.

Quotes about Jinnah

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One of the most extraordinary men in history. ~ Jawaharlal Nehru
Alphabetized by author
  • This is not a letter on Pakistan. If it were, I could have written a small book entitled "Glimpses of Pakistan's history". Time does not permit it. The nation is gripped in her worst crisis, standing in the middle of the road between survival and disintegration. Since the birth of Pakistan, crisis has followed crisis in rapid escalation. Millions of lives were sacrificed to create this country. Pakistan is said to be the dream of Mohammad Iqbal and the creation of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Quaid-e-Azam. Was anything wrong with the dream or with the one who made the dream come true? Opinions have differed and continue to differ. The next few years will most probably decide the issue, perhaps once and for all, and not without bloodshed. This process is not inevitable but the present policies of the ruling junta are driving this country towards a sad inevitability
  • The words are Jinnah’s; the thought and belief are an inheritance from the Prophet who said thirteen centuries before, “All men are equal in the eyes of God. And your lives and your properties are all sacred: in no case should you attack each other’s life and property. Today I trample under my feet all distinctions of caste, colour and nationality
    • The remarks of Hector Bolitho about Jinnah's address to the Constituent Assembly (1947)[citation needed]
  • Mr Jinnah, was great as a lawyer, once great as a Congressman, great as a leader of Muslims, great as a world politician and diplomat, and greatest of all as a man of action. By Mr. Jinnah's passing away, the world has lost one of the greatest statesmen and Pakistan its life-giver, philosopher and guide.
  • Pakistan was founded in 1947 as a homeland for Muslims on the Indian subcontinent, born out of the partition of India, but it was also a home for many minorities. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the father of the nation, was a secular Shia who nominated other Shias and an Ahmadi Muslim to his cabinet. His first law minister was a Hindu, to make clear that laws were to be written by secular jurists, not clerics and theologians. In his first presidential address marking the birth of the nation, at midnight on August 11, 1947, Jinnah told his new compatriots “you are free to go to your temples, free to go to your mosques, or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or case or creed—that has nothing to do with the business of the state.” Jinnah had spelled out a vision for religious pluralism in a secular Muslim-majority democracy, where Muslims and non-Muslims were equal citizens. He did not speak of an Islamic state, not even of an Islamic republic. But his vision for tolerant diversity was never fulfilled. He died a year later, and though his successors tried to uphold this nuanced narrative, they soon fell back on the more straightforward raison d’être of the country: Islam.
    • Kim Ghattas, Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East (2020)
  • Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the greatest benefactor of Hindus in modern times, if he was not a Hindu in disguise.
  • The Qaid-e-Azam had two sets of teeth in his mouth like that of a rogue elephant — one set was for show of beauty, and the other was for the real purpose of mastication. His first declaration from the throne of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan as its President was that the ‘The Hindus would cease to be Hindus and the Muslims would cease to be Muslims in matters of administration henceforth and thus form into a Pakistan Nation.’ ... This was the set of his outer teeth for show of beauty but the real teeth for mastication lay covered elsewhere within the mouth — nobody could see that; only the victims could feel and appreciate the monstrosity of them. The great leader Mr. Jinnah had the real teeth for mastication in his policy of internal administration which stood for chauvinistic aggressive Muslim nationalism.
    • Lahiry P. C. (1964). India partitioned and minorities in pakistan. (p.11-12) quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 11
  • Jinnah, at least in is later life put up a brave fight. It was, however, a fight not for the’ freedom of India, except in a very qualified sense, but for the freedom of the Muslims from the tyrannical yoke of the Hindus, as he put it. He won the fight  ; the cult of violence decided the issue. To what extent Gandhi s cult of non-violence may claim credit for the freedom of India is a matter of opinion. But there is no doubt that the creation of Pakistan was the triumph of violence— in its naked and most brutal form-and of the leadership of Jinnah. Nobody can reasonably doubt that India would have surely attained independence, sooner or later, even without Gandhi, but it is extremely doubtful whether there would have been a Pakistan without Jinnah. So, if we are to judge by the result alone, the events of 1946-7 testify to the superiority of violence to non-violence in practical politics, and of Jinnah to the leaders of the Congress. But this affords an illustration of the blunder that is often committed by hasty inference drawn from the immediate result, apparently flowing from a certain course of action, without weighing the force of other circumstances. It ought to serve as a corrective to those who look upon Gandhi as having wrested independence from the British by waving his magic wand of Satyagraha. In any case Jinnah stands out as the most successful political leader of the period. Whatever the Hindus might think of Jinnah, he has secured a high place in the history of the Muslim nation, a term at which we can hardly cavil after the foundation of Pakistan. He carried to its logical consummation the work that was begun by Sir Syed Ahmad. (xxviii ff)
    • R.C. Majumdar. History of the Freedom Movement in India: Preface to Volume 3: R.C. Majumdar, Firma K.L Mukhopadhyay, Calcutta. also quoted in S. Balakrishna, Seventy years of secularism.
  • One of the most extraordinary men in history.
    • Jawaharlal Nehru, first prime minister of India, as quoted in Men Who Overturned Empires : Fighters, Dreamers, and Schemers (1987) by Hugh Tinker, p. 62
  • In their game of divide and rule, the British supported Mr Jinnah, and I have still to find an Englishman who was not on Jinnah's side in the unfortunate Hindu-Muslim controversy that arose and created Pakistan.
    • Sri Prakasa, Pakistan, Birth and early days, quoted in Kamra A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms : testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64. pp. 12
  • He would not let himself be deflected nor allow his followers to be deflected by a bewildering multiplicity of religious, cultural, social, economic and other issues. Step by step, slowly and steadily he took his followers forward to their cherished goal. He believed in full and thorough preparation before an action was taken.
  • Jinnah was the originator of the dream that became Pakistan, architect of the State and father of the world's largest Muslim nation. Mr. Jinnah was the recipient of a devotion and loyalty seldom accorded to any man.
  • Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Mohammad Ali Jinnah did all three.
  • The most important man in Asia.
    • Beverley Nichols in Verdict on India
  • The old Advocate of Unity, Mr. M.A.Jinnah, … was advanced than his colleagues, and stood head and shoulders above them.
    • Nehru from his book Freedom at Midnight
  • Honourable Members...I ask you, Members, to stand in your places to pay our tribute of respect to Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who by his grim determination and stead fast devotion was able to carve out and found Pakistan and whose passing away at this moment is an irreparable loss to all.
    • Dr. Rajendra Prasad addressing the Constituent Assembly of India on Thursday, 4 November 1948. Constituent Assembly Debates, Book No. 2, Volume VII: 4 November 1948—8 January 1949: Lok Sabha Secretariat, 1999

Further reading

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References

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  1. ↑ Saeed, Hajra (11 September 2015). The exalted Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The Nation. Retrieved on 24 September 2019.

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